Send money to Uruguay from Canada
Grey pays out in Uruguayan pesos into a bank account in Uruguay. Banco República (BROU), Santander Uruguay, Itaú Uruguay, BBVA Uruguay and Scotiabank Uruguay are all supported, transfers from a funded balance typically arrive within minutes, and the peso figure is fixed the moment you confirm.
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A small corridor, and no pretending otherwise
Canada and Uruguay do not move a great deal of money between them, and there is no point pretending otherwise. This is not a payday corridor with queues on the fifteenth and the thirtieth. It is a few thousand people with a specific reason, and the page is written for them rather than for a volume that does not exist.
Three groups account for most of it. Uruguayan families who came to Canada in the 1970s and settled in Toronto, Hamilton and across Ontario, now sending to elderly parents and to cousins in Montevideo and Salto. Canadian companies paying software developers, designers and engineers in Montevideo, which has become a genuine centre for that work. And a smaller set of Canadians with a house or a long stay in Punta del Este or Colonia, paying local costs from abroad.
What all three need is the same and it is not complicated: pesos delivered to a Uruguayan account, at a figure agreed before the money leaves. Grey converts your balance into pesos in one step and credits the account. The person receiving does not register with Grey and is not charged by Grey.
Three steps to a peso payout
Sign up
A free Grey account opens in about five minutes on your phone, verified with one valid identity document. No branch and nothing in the post.
Fund
Grey balances are held in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds and in euro. Money reaches yours from a client, an employer or a transfer you make.
Send
Enter the Uruguayan bank name and account number, read the peso figure against the rate and the fee, and confirm. A transfer from a funded balance typically arrives within minutes.
What sending to Uruguay costs
Small corridors are where sloppy pricing hides best. When a route carries little volume, providers quote it defensively and often decline to quote local currency at all, offering to send dollars and leaving the receiving bank in Montevideo to convert them. That conversion is priced by a bank you have no relationship with and never appears on anything you can read.
A peso payout closes that gap. One conversion, done on your side, at a rate you looked at before agreeing to it. The account in Uruguay receives pesos and there is nothing further to take out of them.
How the peso rate is fixed
The rate shown at confirmation is the rate applied to your transfer. It does not shift between your sending it from Toronto and the credit appearing in Montevideo, and it is not revisited afterwards.
For a developer or a studio invoicing a Canadian client, that is the difference between being paid what was agreed and being paid roughly what was agreed. An invoice written in pesos can be met in pesos, exactly, every month.
The Canadian bank route to Montevideo
There is an irony on this corridor worth naming. Scotiabank operates in both countries, and a Canadian customer still cannot simply move money between them: reaching an account in Uruguay from Canada means an international wire, with its flat fee whatever the amount and a rate set by the bank rather than shown to you. RBC, TD Canada Trust, BMO and CIBC price it the same way, and thin corridors like this one are exactly where banks prefer to send dollars and let someone else do the conversion. Interac e-Transfer does not leave Canada. Grey quotes the pesos directly and credits the Uruguayan account.
What your recipient in Uruguay sees
Pesos, credited to their Uruguayan bank account as a straightforward deposit. There is nothing to collect, nothing to sign up for and no fee taken by Grey at that end.
Uruguayan bank accounts
Banco República (BROU), Santander Uruguay, Itaú Uruguay, BBVA Uruguay and Scotiabank Uruguay are supported. You enter the bank and the account number, not an IBAN.
Timing
Transfers sent from a funded Grey balance typically arrive within minutes, which is worth knowing when a monthly invoice has a payment date on it.
GreyTag
If the person in Montevideo also uses Grey, send to their GreyTag instead. That transfer is free and instant, with no account number exchanged.
How a Canadian payer funds the account
No Canadian dollars enter Grey. The balance is funded in the currency your money arrives in, and holds until pesos are needed.
Paid by a client
Canadian consultancies and agencies can be paid straight into their Grey account details, then pay their Montevideo team from the same balance.
Paid by an employer
Salary from a company outside Canada can land in your balance in that currency and convert into pesos only when you send.
Moved in by you
Move money in from an account you already hold in another currency, a month or a quarter ahead of when the payments are due.
For a firm paying the same people every month, a funded balance is what makes payday boring: the money is in place, and sending is a matter of checking the peso figure and confirming.
What money moves between Canada and Uruguay for
Paying a remote team
Canadian firms paying developers, designers and engineers in Montevideo, in pesos, on the date the contract or invoice specifies.
Elderly parents
Support to parents and older relatives in Montevideo, Salto or Paysandú from families who settled in Ontario decades ago.
Property and long stays
Rates, maintenance and utilities on a house in Punta del Este or Colonia, or living costs during a long stay in the country.
Study and family occasions
University costs for a relative studying in Montevideo, or a share of a wedding or a funeral that the family is putting together.
Four cases account for nearly all of this route.
Why a thin corridor still works here
FAQs
Which Uruguayan banks can Grey pay into from Canada?
Banco República (BROU), Santander Uruguay, Itaú Uruguay, BBVA Uruguay and Scotiabank Uruguay are supported. You enter the bank and account number, not an IBAN.
Does the money arrive in Uruguayan pesos?
Yes. Grey converts your balance into pesos in one step, so no bank in Montevideo has to convert a dollar credit afterwards.
Can a Canadian firm pay a Montevideo developer every month?
Yes. Pesos go to the developer's Uruguayan account, with the rate fixed at confirmation so an invoice is met exactly.
How long does a transfer to a BROU account take?
Transfers sent from a funded Grey balance typically arrive within minutes, and you can track them through to settlement.
I bank with Scotiabank in Canada. Can I just transfer to Scotiabank Uruguay?
Not domestically. Reaching a Uruguayan account still means an international payment, which is the step Grey handles in pesos.
Can I send Canadian dollars to Uruguay?
No. Grey holds US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds and euro. One of those converts into Uruguayan pesos when you send.
Does my aunt in Salto need a Grey account to receive pesos?
No. She needs a Uruguayan bank account. The pesos arrive as an ordinary deposit and Grey charges her nothing.
Will I know the peso figure before I confirm?
Yes. The rate, the fee and the pesos that will reach the account appear together, and confirming fixes the rate.
Why do banks want to send dollars to Uruguay instead of pesos?
Small corridors carry little volume, so banks avoid quoting the local currency and leave the conversion to the receiving bank.
Can I pay costs on a house in Punta del Este from Canada?
Yes. Send pesos to the account of whoever bills you, whether that is a manager, a utility or a local contractor.
Is there a record of each payment for my accounts?
Yes. Every transfer is logged with its rate and fee, which is what a firm paying a Uruguayan team needs at month end.
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